When I worked in a bicycle shop back in my high school
years the unassembled bikes were delivered in cardboard cartons. The wheel axles had plastic "caps" attached to prevent them from poking a hole through the side of the carton. Since that was their only purpose, most bike mechanics would toss them before delivering an assembled bike to a customer. But our shop charged extra for assembling the bikes. Therefore, some customers would buy bikes still in the carton. Many of those customers would leave the "caps" attached to the axles. Which in itself, was fine. They didn't hurt anything.
The reason I bring this up is because I can't tell you how many times someone would come to the shop and ask for a replacement cap after one had fallen off. We'd dig through the trash and with much amusement hand over as many as we could find...no charge.
The bicycle assembly instructions did not state that those caps should be removed...much like Klipsch not telling customers to remove the gliders.
